Saturday, May 31, 2008

It's always fun to see how billboards change. The Obey Giant billboard on Pico in Los Angeles that I posted about 3 weeks ago now has some new graffiti on it. Some of the same people hit this billboard as the ones that painted at the Plant Nursery.Obey Giant Billboard has new graffiti on it

Evidence is in the intro to the video. He gives a shout out to War 4, the upcoming graffiti DVD. Newscasters assumed that the intro to the video must be Buket as shown in this CBS news story.

Evidence is no stranger to graffiti. In his 2007 video for the song Mr. Slow Flow, he is shown spray painting.

"I only met Buket once when I was asked to do a promo for an internet show, however I'm obviously not him and find it humorous how the media didn't take the time to figure this out before running such an extensive story."

Following is the full press release by Evidence

Police arrest notorious graffiti tag artist Cyrus "Buket" Yazdani on felony vandalism charges this week in Los Angeles but inaccurate photos of the man in custody continue to circulate, appearing at the top of the hour newscasts on CBS 9, ABC 7, KTLA 5, NBC 4 and Los Angeles Times cover story due to newspaper mistakenly identifying Yazdani with an image of respected MC and Producer Evidence of Dilated Peoples***

(Los Angeles, California - May 29, 2008) Los Angeles Detectives took Cyrus "Buket" Yazdani into custody this week on felony vandalism charges. The man who police describe as "one of Los Angeles' most prolific taggers" was habitual for videotaping his handiwork and uploading footage to the web. The well known local tagger became recognized globally when videos of him spray painting on a Hollywood Fwy overpass, with cars zooming by 20 feet below began ciruclating over the internet.

Dilated People's member Michael "Evidence" Perretta has been making noise on the underground hip-hop scene since the trio appeared in the late 1990's. In reference to the photo of the MC plastered across the front page of the Los Angeles Times and displayed hourly on various television newscasts depicting him as the arrested tagger Evidence says, "I only met Buket once when I was asked to do a promo for an internet show, however I'm obviously not him and find it humorous how the media didn't take the time to figure this out before running such an extensive story."

Evidence explains how he was approached by Yazdani over a year ago and asked to say a few promotional words on film. Unbeknowest to the celeb endorser his words would be edited and used as an introductory segment running prior to footage of Yazdani making his tag mark on the 101 Hollywood Fwy. The segment entitled "War 4" circulated on Youtube.com and was watched by over 500,000 viewers. Video images of Evidence were accidently pulled by the Los Angeles Times when Yazdani was taken into custody, thus mistakenly identifying the MC for the notorious tagger. The rapper explains, "In my line of work anytime someone asks me for a recorded or live video promo I'm always glad to do it. I have co-signed thousands of Internet, Radio and TV shows as well as various other forms of media. This could have happened to any entertainer, not just me."

Evidence has been a torchbearer and champion of underground hip-hop culture. He remains a positive identity within this often misrepresented and marginalized community. Raised in Venice Beach, California the former breakdancer has released four critically acclaimed and socially conscious albums alongside Dilated Peoples and last year had tremendous success with his solo debut The Weatherman. The songs tackled issues of politics and revolution as well as containing powerful tribute tracks to his mother. The celebrated MC has created his own unique blend of beats and rhymes making him a staple and respected figure on the current musical landscape. Evidence and Dilated Peoples have graced covers and appeared within the pages of Vibe, The Source, King, XXL, YRB, Vapors, Alternative Press, URB and XLR8R while his production work has included tracks for the Beastie Boys, Linkin Park, Swollen Members, Defari, Planet Asia and co- production on Kanye West's Grammy award winning album College Dropout.

Evidence says he wants this huge mistake cleared up and retractions made by the media. Meanwhile he is busy preparing for upcoming nationwide show dates during the "Fresh Rhymes & Videotape Tour" featuring Dilated Peoples, The Alchemist, Aceyalone and 88 Keys. The tour runs from June 2nd - June 29th and will hit all major cities.

PayPerPost, now under the company umbrella IZEA does exactly what the name suggests. PayPerPost, pays bloggers for a specific post. Companies want to get the word out about their products. There is no better way to do that than to have bloggers with a built in audience write about their products.

There is of course controversy surrounding getting paid for posts. I mean who really wants to read a blog that is basically an ad. I think the key is choosing to write about posts that your readers will be interested in. I of course don’t want to alienate anyone from continuing to read Graffhead.com. I also plan to limit the paid posts to about one a month.

The company also requires you to let your readers know that the post is a sponsored post so there is no confusion.

So why did I do it? Why did I sell out to PayPerPost? Basically, all I want to do is cover my hosting costs. Will I make a ton of money with PayPerPost? Probably not! Will I cover my hosting costs? I can only hope so.In full disclosure, I was promised $20 for this review of their service. Not a bad deal for this post.

"Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators arrested Yazdani on Tuesday, sayingthat his moniker has marked hundreds of freeway overpasses, concrete walls andtransit buses across the state and southern Nevada. He is believed responsiblefor upward of $150,000 in property damage along the Los Angeles River and in the areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department -- and at leastthat much in other parts of California."

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Kauai is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There are not that many walls on the island. You will mostly see plants, flowers and trees. It is the greenest place I have ever seen.Kauai Skyline

Not even this island can escape graffiti. The only graff that I saw on the island were by the Kauai Boys (KBC). These pictures were taken at the start of the Makelaha hike trail in Northern Kapa'a.

Even with barely any graffiti, Kauai, Hawaii is still my favorite place in the world.

Good old graffiti makes it into LACMA! Ruben Ochoa's photograph named "What if Walls Created Spaces" is a picture of a Los Angeles Freeway wall. The wall of course shows one of Los Angeles' most up writers: Atlas CBS.LACMA Phantom Sighthings Art after the Chicano Movement Exhibit

The corner of Shenandoah and Pico Blvd in Los Angeles used to house the M Forman Pottery and Plants nursery. Years ago the nursery went out of business. Now the only remaining wall showcases some local graffiti.Shenandoah and Pico Blvd

Friday, May 23, 2008

Buket TKO was shown on NBC news on May 21. The news story shows a clip from the upcoming WAR 4 Graffiti video. It's funny that you can see the WAR 42 logo on the news clip. The video shows Buket climbing an overpass on the 101 freeway during broad daylight. You can also him spray painting on a bus during the day as well.

The reporter also goes to the Los Angeles River and shows some of the spots that Buket got up. You can also see a cop flipping through the graffiti book: Los Angeles Graffiti where Buket has a few featured pictures.

The story suggests that Buket will be turning himself in. I highly doubt that. Buket will not turn himself in. All this news story did was give Buket ultimate fame.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Los Angeles has lots of art galleries. There are so many, that many are not even on my radar.

On Saturday, May 17 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art organized an art walk. 40 galleries in fairly close proximity to LACMA opened their doors to the public. The majority of the galleries were on Wilshire Blvd and also on La Brea Avenue.